Sealed roller bearing



Set. 28, 1954 A. J. KENDiG 2,690,362

SEALED ROLLER BEARING Original Filed April 3, 1952 INVENTOR; ARNIE J. KINDIG,

BY Lax 1% Patented Sept. 28, 1954 SEALED ROLLER BEARING Arnie J. Kindig, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The J efirey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Original application April 3, 1952, Serial. No. 280,277. Divided and this application May 11, 1953, Serial No. 354,041

3 Claims.

This'invention relates to roller bearings, and one of'its objects is to provide improvements in the construction thereof, whereby the bearing parts are sealed together and retained as an assembly or unit.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved roller bearing assembly wherein bearing parts are retained'together as a unit and in which there is lubricant seal means for preventing the loss of lubricant from the inside of the assembly and the entry of foreign matter thereinto.

A further object of the invention is to'provide an' improved roller bearing assembly in which there is a sealv means which also functions to retain parts of the bearing together as an assembly.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel-features and combinations being set forth-inthe appended claims.

The accompanyingdraw-ing'shows a roller bearing assembly including the invention.

This application is a division of my application, Serial No. 280,277, filed April 3, 1952, for a Grease Seal.

In the accompanying drawing there is shown an assembled sealed roller bearing which may be considered as a greased or sealed-for-life or package unit bearing assembly. Said unit includes an outer cup or race I and inner cone or race II and an interposed anti-friction roller bearing I2 made up of a plurality of rolls I3 and a retainer or cage I4 which spaces the rolls I3 from each other and is generally in the shape of a frustrum of a cone. This much of the illustrated bearing is one form of standard construction for bearings of this type. The assembly includes lubricant sealing devices I5 and I6 on opposite sides of the rolls I3 for preventing the loss of lubricant from and the entry of foreign matter into a chamber I! in which the roller bearing I2 is housed and which is formed by the outer cup [0, inner cone II and lubricant seals I5 and I6.

Lubricant seal I6 includes a metal stamping l8 that forms an outer shell in which the other parts of the seal I6 are held. This outer shell [8 includes two cylindrical portions of different diameters inter-connected by a wall [9, and its larger diameter cylindrical portion 20 has a press fit with the outer cylindrical surface of cup I0. Extending radially inwardly from its smaller cylindrical portion 2| shell l8 includes a wall portion 22 that lies in a plane perpendicular to the axis about which the bearing I2 rotates. Shell I8 is pressed-upon the outercup I0 sothat the wall l9 abuts the adjacent side of cup [0, thereby assuring that wall 22 lies in said perpendicular plane.

A seal disc or ring 23 is held'against the inside of wall 22 by a retainer ring 24 having a press fit with the cylindrical wall 2! of shell I8. The inner peripheral edge of seal disc or ring- 23 bears upon and has a wiping sealing contact with a cylindrical portion or surface of cone H and it cooperates therewith to prevent the escape of lubricant from chamber IT and the entry of foreign matter thereinto.

Seal disc or ring 23 is preferably made by coating airplane cloth with synthetic rubber on both sides. It is preferable that the thickness of this seal discor ring be of the order of .025-.030 inch.

Sucha seal disc is impervious to water, grease, gasoline, or the like and is resistant to deterioration by them. This is important, of course, because the chamber [1 is normally filled with lubricant such as grease. Such disc is also quite flexible both because of the material of which it is made and because of its thickness and this flexibility is relatively free from fatigue and is maintained over a very wide range of temperatures. This is important because seals are subject to considerable temperature variations, and this seal material is relatively free from permanent set and drift and its life at high, low or changing temperatures is very long. It does not age fast and it does not deteriorate rapidly either under fresh or salt water or in the presence of acids or alkalis.

One such material is sold under the tradename Fairprene which is manufactured and sold by the Du Pont Company, the particular quality preferably employed being designated by the number 5007. Obviously, equivalent material of other manufacturers may be used with equal facility.

The sealing device I5 is essentially like sealing device l6, above described, except that it is pressed into the small diameter end of cup l0 and its outer shell 25 is rolled or otherwise expanded to lock it to said cup I0, and its seal disc or ring 26 has a wiping contact with aface 21 of cone II that lies in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the bearing. It will be seen, of course, that, if desired, the cone may be provided with a cylindrical or other shaped surface With which seal disc or ring 26 may cooperate to seal efiectively the chamber II.

In the assembly of the unit shown in the drawings the seal device [5 is first connected or attached to cup Ill. The bearing l2 and cone II which because of the shape of cone ll form a sub-assembly, after having been packed with sufiicient lubricant, is placed in the cup [0, and the sealing device I6 is then pressed onto cup 10 to close completely the bearing assembly and form it into a unit that cannot, except by the use of force, be disassembled. The unit may be termed as being a greased or sealed-for-life unit and it may be properly called a package unit, that is, one in which parts are assembled and will not become separated or lost in handling in stock rooms or in shipment and the like.

It is to be noted, however, that lubricant may be added to the chamber H by slipping a hypodermic needle or the like between one of the seal discs or rings 23 or 20 and cone II and feeding grease to chamber 17.

It is of importance to note that the seal I6 not only functions as a seal, but that it holds the bearing together as a unit during handling and storage of the bearing unit, by cooperating with the large diameter end of the retainer or cage [4 to hold the bearing assembly in the cup,

and in the particular bearing illustrated the rolls l3 of bearing assembly I2, because they op- 4 not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of the invention, what it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A roller bearing assembly including means forming tapered outer and inner races, bearing rolls between said races, retainer means spacing said rolls apart, and lubricant seal means at erate in a recessed race in cone H, retain the cone in proper relation in the assembly. It is to be understood, of course, that in a broader aspect this invention is not to be limited to roller bearings including recessed cones such as the one described, and also that it is not to be limited to having its grease sealing devices l5 and It pressed onto the cup l0. Sealing devices may be secured to either the cup or the cone of the bearing in any suitable manner.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and applicant therefore wishes each side of said rolls for preventing loss of lubricant from said bearing assembly and the entry of foreign matter thereinto, said seal means at the large diameter end of said races cooperating with said retainer means for holding said elements together as a unit. I

2. A roller bearing assembly including means forming tapered outer and inner races, bearing rolls between said races, retainer means spacing said rolls apart, and lubricant seal means at one side of said rolls for preventing loss of lubricant from said bearing assembly and the entry of foreign matter thereinto, said seal means being at the large diameter end of said races and cooperating with said retainer means for holding said elements together as a unit.

3. A roller bearing assembly including means forming a tapered race, bearing rolls associated with said race, retainer means holding and spacing said rolls apart, and lubricant seal means at the large diameter end of said race cooperating with said retainer means for holding said bearing rolls and race together as an aseembly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,235,351 Baker Mar. 18, 1941 2,565,070 Foley Aug. 21, 1951 2,584,227 Potter Feb. 5, 1952 2,590,422 Large Mar, 25, 1952 

